Bellflower

Bellflower is a unique drama, romance, and action film released in 2011, written and directed by Evan Glodell in his directorial debut. The film features an ensemble cast, including Evan Glodell, Tyler Dawson, and Jessie Wiseman. Infusing elements of romance, action and apocalyptic aesthetics, Bellflower is a testament to independent cinema, showcasing what can be achieved with a limited budget, boundless creativity and an uncompromising vision.

The film was shown in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and the SXSW Film Festival, where it garnered critical acclaim and delivered Glodell's unique vision to audiences for the first time.

At the very root of the film, Bellflower is a love story. However, it is a love story set against a backdrop of raw emotions, power, destruction and the end of the world. This unorthodox twist on a common theme makes for an attractive, though intense, cinematic experience.

The film centers on two best friends, Woodrow (Evan Glodell) and Aiden (Tyler Dawson), who spend their time constructing flamethrowers and muscle cars with the potential for mass destruction, inspired by their childhood fixation with the Mad Max franchise. As the pair fantasizes about a globally destructive apocalypse, their fiery macho dreams seem to be coming to fruition when Woodrow falls hard for a charismatic and enigmatic young woman, Milly (Jessie Wiseman), an encounter that flips his world upside down.

Bellflower is about youth, friendship, love and the confusion that arises from intense relationships, all played out in the sun-soaked, beer-soaked, blood-soaked streets of a hazy southern Californian setting; it’s raw, visceral and unpredictable. Woodrow’s seemingly harmless romance quickly unravels into a surreal, stylized journey, with their DIY apocalypse reel leaping from fantasy into horrifying reality.

Glodell employs a narrative technique as unflinchingly raw as the deeply flawed and viscerally real characters he has created. He also literally sets the screen on fire with a unique, hand-built camera he employed called the "Coatwolf Model II", lending a visually unique filmic aesthetic. The aesthetics of Bellflower blur the lines between reality and fantasy through a rust-hued lens that bathes the movie in an apocalyptic glow.

Bellflower creatively explores themes of friendship, love, heartbreak, and the destructive tendencies that can emerge from emotional turmoil. It is not for the faint-hearted and offers a fiery, post-apocalyptic world observed through the lens of dark emotions and tormented relationships. The film distinctively doesn’t shy away from dark undertones and visceral sequences, rolling out a narrative trajectory filled with twists and turns.

The emotionally charged performances of Evan Glodell, Tyler Dawson, and Jessie Wiseman push the boundaries of conventional drama, resulting in unhinged and raw character interpretations, whose explosive interactions on-screen provide the fuel that propels the film's narrative.

Bellflower is perhaps best described as a passionate, chaotic and heartfelt riff on love and friendship, seen through a post-apocalyptic lens. It combines an extravagant plot, experimental visuals, and intense performances to create an immersive cinematic experience.

While Bellflower might initially appear as a seemingly simple story about love and friendship, the narrative quickly evolves into a much deeper exploration of human emotions and our darkest fears of abandonment and insignificance. The film firmly situates itself as an emotionally charged journey with unpredictable twists and turns that have the power to shock even the most experienced viewer.

With its haunting cinematography, nuanced performances, and a gusty narrative, Bellflower delivers a cinematic experience that leaves a strong impression. A devastating exploration of love and friendship, heartbreak, and devastation, Bellflower encapsulates the very essence of what independent cinema should strive to achieve – to leave audiences contemplating long after the closing credits have rolled.

In summary, Bellflower is a daring and fiercely original film that blends genres and blurs the lines between friendship, love, and destruction against a vividly depicted pre-apocalyptic setting. It is a darkly poetic and unapologetically raw entry into the realm of independent cinema that has planted the flag for Evan Glodell as a serious, heart-on-his-sleeve filmmaker to watch. It's a film made more for the gut than for the brain, and one that firmly challenges audiences to sit back, watch, and engage.